Sunday, November 18, 2012

Holiday season is pie season! Well, any season is pie season, but you certainly can't think of Thanksgiving without pumpkin pies. I'm no baker, so I just buy my pies. Like from Cutie Pie That! They recently invited their loyal customers and friends for a holiday pie tasting (I thought it was nice that they invited not just the press but the most important people, their customers).

Cutie Pie That's buttery crusted pies are the creations of Tonya Dooley. Among their current seasonal lineup is an eggy quiche. They have one with bacon and a vegetarian one, but I'm sure you can guess which one I prefer.

Of course they also have pumpkin pie, and I really like Tonya's version since it has more spice than the usual.

A do-not-miss is their Down Home Sweet Potato Pie! This quickly became the crowd favorite during our tasting. It's rich, creamy, and well spiced. It was hard to choose between this and the pumpkin pie, but the sweet potato pie gets bonus points for being harder to find.

Both her pecan and chocolate pecan pies are also made bourbon and .. walnuts! Walnuts are easier to chew and I tend to like the flavor better, so I loved their additions here. Perhaps one day she should make an all-walnut pie?

Cutie Pie That! currently does not have a storefront, but you can order their products online (the commercial kitchen is based in Pasadena), and they also appear at various craft fairs and farmer's markets (you can see the schedule for that here).

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Days before our trip to Portland, Wandering Chopsticks found an article from Travel+Leisure for the top ten pies in the US, listing Portland’s Random Order Coffeehouse for their vanilla salted caramel apple pie. We just had to go.

Random Order is a small coffee shop on cute Alberta street, very much like a neighborhood joint. On our first visit after “hiking” the waterfalls, we got three slices of pie and some tea.

Of course, we had to get their award winning vanilla salted caramel apple pie. The filling is caramel apple and the crust is a vanilla sugar-salted crust.
I’m not a huge apple pie fan, but I have to say this was very good, especially the flaky crust. Random Order makes pretty much everything from scratch, including their crust, cream, and whipped cream.

The Flirty Berry was even better for me, filled with blueberries and blackberries.